Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!-Chapter 584: Counting Heads

A few days passed since Dune's death, but things still moved at a snail's pace. Everyone who had woken up the night of his passing was still recovering from the wobbliness of their bodies. Their feet had yet to regain balance and the strength in their fist and magic was bound to take a bit of practice before recovering. The only exceptions to the case were Raven and Helga, one for having been immortal and the other for the mere fact that he woke up earlier than the rest.

"So what do you plan on doing now?" Sitting across from each other, the two glanced over a map that was meant to reflect the land the party had charted thus far. "Regalia that girl returned to Elanaris, the spirit girl Hayley went with her to get herself checked by Shamisha, the witch has returned to her shop, and the rest of the mess…well it is how we'd left it before the journey to hell."

"There's Jeanna and her companions too, not to mention the djinn sisters, Mercedes, Gallaria, and people like Darius and his fiance that have been pulled into this mess as well." Taking a light sip of a cold drink from a glass, Raven let his shoulders settle before lifting his gaze from the map. "Ideally, Athenia and Latherem will provide food with our city housing the young soldiers for training and to garner great health."

"Sounds decent enough," tilting her head sideways, Helga nodded along.

"Then Aranuvia will be used to train soldiers and transport resources between the mainlands. As for the people there, they will be the ones to facilitate it all." Looking down at the map again, Raven placed a finger on Elenaris next. "Equipment and weapons will come here, mostly mechanical stuff–the magic items will still be made in Athenia."

Sliding his finger to Lulualia next, he circled his fingers mid-way of the canals.

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"We have some allies here too, we can use their help to transport goods further up into the nameless city. Or we can simply have them join the war effort but that might need a bit of convincing." Lifting his head, Raven looked at Helga again. "Any pointers for diplomacy? Ever had the need to do so in your last holy war?"

Shaking her head in denial, Helga gave a clear answer.

"It was a much rougher world back then. There was no place like Athenia and most people were nomads on ashen land."

"Well, that explains the savagery I suppose…" Raven replied before looking back down. Staring at the map for a while, he knew that the people of Aranuvia had no choice but to listen to him as he was considered their new king, and while the beastmen and demi-humans of Lululalia owed him, they were under no compulsion to join the war efforts against the forces of evil.

'Demi-humans and Beastmen, these guys are often too shortsighted to see the benefit in fighting this war. Even Moxy has trouble reading sometimes, so I suppose that's just how they're wired–a little different than humans.'

"By the way," speaking up to get Raven's attention, Helga leaned forward and stared at him sternly. "What about those souls? What are you doing with them? It's a treasure you can only find in hell and you snatched it from under a primordial's nose. If anyone gets wind of it being here, who knows what kind of people may come chasing after it?"

"And why exactly do you mention that?" Sensing something sinister, Raven tried to probe further into the Valkyrie's mind.

Shrugging her shoulders and leaning back into her chair, she crossed her arms and looked Raven in the eye again.

"We can use them to make devil's blood potions–a wish in a bottle, like that ring of yours but with a lot more potential with the amount of souls you have."

"I appreciate the input but…" Reminding himself of what he'd heard from her about the atrocities of the last holy war, Raven had decided not to go the same route. "If a soul brought back Mono years after her body had died, then those people are still alive in there and to use them for our benefit–I'm too sure about that."

Leaning quickly forward, Helga scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"These people are scum who sold their souls for earthly pleasures, some even for perverse powers and desires, they deserve hell anyways. Why shouldn't we use them and send them right back to where they belong?" Making a deal with those souls with a devil would make it so that the soul ends up back in hell, with that in mind, Helga wanted them to be used and sent back before someone comes looking for them for their own benefit instead. "Consider it a letter back home, we're sending these people back to where they belong and in return, if we benefit from it, then that's even better!"

To a degree, Raven could see where Helga was coming from, but even then–it wasn't something he could make a decision on his own. Instead, making a mental note to talk to Maria and the others, he decided to set up an inquiry and somehow make the spirits in the souls plead their case for them not to be sent back to hell.

"If they've committed an unforgivable crime then sure, maybe we can use them–others, we can offer automaton bodies in exchange for fighting for us in this war," talking to himself out loud, Raven figured out the best option they had to handle the situation with the souls. "Of course, we won't give them something like Avarice's body–Well…we can't even if we wanted, the one ring of infinite mana we already used for Hayley."

"That girl, she can use any spell or skill now and so can Amedith…" Leaning back into her chair again, Helga pondered for a moment before looking back at Raven. "Seems like everyone's getting stronger, what about you? Apart from the corruption-soaking abilities, is there anything new that you can do?"

Although a bit sensitive to the topic right now since everyone had grown slightly weaker and he didn't wanna boast, Raven lifted his left hand and presented it forward.

"My fae powers…" Emerging from his hand was a dark liquid with a silver glowing eye at the centre of his palm. Quivering uncontrollably, the iris looked about everywhere with seemingly no control over itself. "I was practising to get back into the spirit of battle when I found that I can create living creatures of darkness or corrupt regular critters into obedient servants."

Stretching his fingers wide, Raven made room for a squirrel and a handful of small critters covered in a layer of liquid darkness to emerge out of his hand. Much like umbra, their eyes glowed a silver and their bodies ran with silver veins as well. Curious of the sight, Helga leaned forward once again and after watching the critters for a while whispered.

"You have altered their bodies, it's almost like they are all fairies…"

"I probably try it on people, but obviously I don't wanna do it to just anyone." Closing his fingers, Raven balled them into a fist and like a mist of dark the fairies melted back into his hands. Opening his eyes once it was all done, he noticed a look of surprise on Helga's face. "The others have probably grown too, we just need to give them some time to find out their new powers."

"By the nine hells, you kids…" Laughing at everything that had happened just now, Helga wiped her face with her hand and whispered. "You guys almost remind me of the people I went to war with–a bunch of knuckleheads with too much potential for some fucking reason."

Laughing some more, Helga suddenly halted. Blinking her eyes at the ground, she slowly lifted her head to look at Raven.

"Oh crap, I forgot to tell you. Markus said that the king and the queen invited you to the castle today."

"Hmm? When and why?"

"I…think, a few hours ago?"

"What?"

"Y-yeah…You should get going kid." With that, their long conversation came to an end.